The Black Umbrella
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: She had to give it back to him, even though it had been years since he'd given it to her.


"Here, this is yours. I'm sorry that I didn't give it back to you when we were younger." In Marinette's hands was a sleek, black umbrella that Adrien barely remembered giving to her after so long.

His eyes flickered over to it as he took it back, feeling a sort of gravity in this moment that he couldn't quite define as he remembered back to when they first became friends that day in the rain with an apology spoken on his lips, with honesty and more of himself than he could ever define, and he remembered laughing, feeling freedom and joy at her apparent forgiveness and over something so simple as an umbrella temporarily closing in around her.

"Th-Thank you, I never expected it back, after all this time." His father had bought him a new umbrella of course, right after that day, and he'd gotten even more new ones over the years, but seeing that black umbrella umbrella again felt way different than any other black umbrella that he'd ever bought or gotten.

"I know that I should have gave it back to you sooner." She smiled up at him, but there was something sad in her blue eyes, "I, was just cleaning out my stuff and found it again." Nevermind that she'd kept it tucked away in a box in her closet for so long with other mementos of the feelings that even now didn't run dry in her veins for Adrien or that she'd had to make the decision to start moving on. She couldn't in that same regard give him back his first gift to her, first actual gift, that old lucky charm that he'd made her for her birthday.

Honestly, she missed those kinds of days, where her feelings didn't feel impossible, and her heart never had to break all of the time over hearing about Adrien's mystery girl that he talked about so often lately. She knew enough to know that it wasn't her, because people didn't just gush about their crush to their crush, no matter how sheltered their childhood was.

Marinette tucked a strand of hair far out of her face and smiled at her friend that would probably always be there for her even though it wasn't in the way that she'd wanted for so long.

* * *

There was a time where that black umbrella held her captive in her feelings for Adrien, full of the good memories from when they'd first truly met, past all of the misunderstandings from their actual first meeting, and yet now, she was able to smile up at Luka and feel that old shift in her heart. She didn't mind as her future shifted to include him in it more and more.

Adrien still talked about that mystery girl sometimes, but he never ever shown any signs of not supporting his friend with moving on; she was glad, because there was no way that that wouldn't have hurt her more if he hadn't bothered to let her know until too late that he kind of liked her.

There was a certain bliss about moving on despite the difficulty of it at first, and while her heart would always love and call for Adrien, she was learning to love Luka as a big part of her life. She'd never yet told him that both Cat Noir and Adrien took up so much of her heart that she was worried that Luka was only getting breadcrumbs from it, but she couldn't have Cat Noir and still keep their identities secret from each other and Adrien would never notice her with his mystery girl in the way.

Luka was enough for her weary and bleeding heart; time would hopefully make her love stronger for him than Adrien at the very least.

* * *

It had been ages since the days when she'd started to move on, and her feelings for Luka had grown by at least tenfold and even though she couldn't forget her feelings for Adrien, most of the times she was able to trick herself into only thinking of him as a friend. It had truly helped when he decided to move on from his mystery girl who never returned his affections to Chloe, who at the very least was someone 'real' for Adrien to love.

He'd married her about a year after Marinette had gotten married, and naturally since she was his friend, she'd supported him like he'd supported her at her own wedding.

Right now though that shouldn't matter as three months pregnant Ladybug stood in a locked cooler after defeating an Akuma and dreading the implications as her timer counted down and as she detransformed in front of her partner and encouraged Tikki to get them out.

It wasn't enough to stop Cat Noir's timer from counting down, and her heart ached in full force at just seeing Adrien Agreste and knowing how hopeless her heart had become for him. It brought back all of the memories of her feelings that weren't stagnant though had felt less strong for a while now, and she found herself staring into green eyes, praying that Tikki worked fast.

Marinette wasn't sure what to say in this kind of situation, not as her wedding ring glistened in the limited light of the cooler or as her body felt nearly frozen. She'd never admitted to Master Fu that she was pregnant and might need a temporary replacement down the line, and she didn't really plan on it yet, but seeing her friend of many years that had claimed her heart long ago, and that she'd worked hard to move on from facing her, hurt. She wanted to move faster, wanted to know that this wasn't real, even though she knew that it had to be.

"Marinette?" The emotion in his voice was incredible; it was both incredibly sad, elated, shocked, and so much that she couldn't really define. When she looked into his green eyes, realizing that it wasn't right to act like he didn't exist, all she saw were tears. They were like wounded shards of glass eager to fall, but had not really fallen yet. It was like all of his hopes and dreams for this reveal had been shown to be completely unrealistic.

Marinette almost wanted to point down at the ring on his finger to remind him that he was married too, and that it wasn't to her. She only didn't, because she was in the same boat. Marinette took a deep breath to hopefully bring her vocal chords back into working.

"Adrien." It took all that was in her to keep his name from rolling off her tongue as a question. It hurt too much to merely question identities once revealed especially since she knew that it was impossible for Alya's old ship of LadyNoir to set sail anymore. "I'm sorry." She dreaded the words as soon as they fled her lips, but she didn't know what else she could have said.

"It's okay." He smiled, but it was worn and tired. She just prayed that his marriage wasn't loveless, that he was in love with Chloe, and that she returned that love entirely.

Marinette's marriage is loving; she loves Luka, and over the years, it has gotten so much stronger. Luka loves her in a full heart kind of way. It was a reminder that she definitely married a love of her life, the 'a' instead of 'the' still kind of wounded her in a way that was hard to explain.

"I'm married." Marinette doesn't know why she reminds him, except that she still doesn't know what to say, and right now, she feels like she needs this reminder as much as he probably does, "And, Luka and I are having a baby." She doesn't know yet whether it's a boy or a girl growing in her womb, and Adrien is the first person that she's told since Luka, who has been there for her the whole time. He's known since she first realized that she might be pregnant; somehow telling Cat Noir before this moment had never ocurred to her, let alone telling Adrien.

"You're pregnant?" His green eyes go wide, and she wonders what that tells him besides the obvious. There's a dim sense of wonder in his eyes as if a part of him is so caught up in the new life growing in her womb that he wants to reach out and just touch her belly, feel a kick of something, out of a sense of awe and possibly surprise mixed with a bit of disbelief. It's almost like he hadn't realized that Ladybug could ever be pregnant, could ever be a mother.

If she'd told him without the identity reveal, that awe at new life would probably be there, just without the shock of a superhero being pregnant. He had known that she'd had a life beyond the suit, and yet this was the first time he'd seen it revealed to him.

Adrien steps closer, "Why did you give me my old umbrella back so long ago?" His hands hover in front of her belly, eager to ask for permission to reach out and press his hands over where her baby would be, but too afraid to ask the question.

"You remember that?" Marinette dreads the question, just as much as she hates how all of their old memories rush back at the identity reveal that had been forced upon them.

"How could I forget? It was years later, and that umbrella just feels different. I haven't used it since you returned it; it's tucked away." Adrien murmured, "It reminds me of when we first became friends as Marinette and Adrien." He suddenly feels the need to clarify.

"I had to move on." Marinette sighed, wishing her mask could still be on; it was easier to be brave as Ladybug than Marinette. "I was tired of being in love with her and having my heart break all of the time. It reminded me of when I first fell for you. I figured that I had it too long anyway." Marinette shrugged. She'd needed to let go to move on, and that umbrella was something tangible that she could let go of in order to work towards moving on.

"Oh." Adrien stares down at his feet for a moment before it fully sinks in, "Oh." All of that finally registered in his brain, and he realized that Marinette, that Ladybug, had to move on from him long before he'd forced himself to move on.

"You weren't dating Luka yet?" Finally came out as he stared into her blue eyes; you were still single.

"It took a while for me to trust my feelings as I fell in love with Luka. I needed to be sure that I could move on, and that it wouldn't be the same situation all over again, before I could move on. It took me a while after that to move on, but I was determined to and Alya supported me through it all." Marinette smiled. She was quietly grateful for her best friend, for dealing with Marinette's frustration, her tears, her anxiety, her fears, and everything else on that whole journey. Sometimes she was positive that without Alya, she wouldn't have succeeded in moving on.

"Okay." Adrien was probably still mulling over all of this; all of those lost chances that he'd had, the ones that he couldn't have ever again.

It was only then that Tikki finally interrupted them, "It's unlocked, Marinette." It was quiet, almost like she was scared to say a word to break this off, though Tikki never seemed scared or afraid of anything as long as Marinette had known her, especially not now.

"'Bye, Cat Noir." She knew that with the identity reveal, she should have said Adrien, but something within her couldn't bring her to that admission. Instead, she went with the goodbye that was easiest as she left to go home and maybe sleep this memory away. It was far too much to hold on to after all.


End file.
